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Contempt of Court
"Contempt of Court" is the premiere episode of Miami Vice's fourth season. The episode premiered on September 25, 1987. Summary A mobster tries everything possible, including locating Crockett's hidden witness and scaring the jury, to get a mistrial. Plot Crockett & Tubbs, accompanied by U.S. Attorneys, arrests mob boss Frank Mosca (Stanley Tucci) for RICO offenses and is put on trial. During the bail hearing (when Mosca nonchalantly passes bon-bons to his attorneys), both U.S. Attorney Alice Carson (Meg Foster) and defense attorney Sid Shenker (Mark Blum) plead their cases, and Federal Judge Delaporte (Phillip Baker Hall) sets bail at $1 million. The Vice team collects all of their surveillance evidence, Castillo warns everyone Mosca will go after witnesses, bribe, intimidate or suborn jurors, and do anything it takes to get a mistrial, when it happens time passes and witnesses disappear, making it harder to convict. The jurors are not sequestered, but are anonymous to everyone, including Mosca's lawyers (under RICO rules). Gina, Trudy & Switek are assigned to the jurors, Crockett & Tubbs for the witnesses. Mosca tells Shenker he will find who fingered him, and deal with it in his style. Mosca brings in Jimmy DePalma, a confidant, and confronts him on what he told the Feds, he swears nothing, but Mosca kills him anyway, then goes to see Jack Rivers (Steven Keats) who puts the word out on who the squealer is. Carson tells Crockett his informant that his testimony is the lynchpin on the whole case, and that Mosca's lawyers can compel Crockett to reveal his informant or go to jail. Crockett goes to see Rivers who refuses to go into the Witness Protection program for him & his son Terry (Richard Pabloblanco). The trial resumes and after DePalma's killing Mosca's bail is revoked and is sent to jail. Carson & Shenker give their opening arguments, but one man draws a caricature of one of the jurors and is watching him, despite the extensive efforts to confuse Mosca's men. In jail, Mosca is treated like a prince, getting food from five-star restaurants, etc, and he still wants to know the man who is still out there squealing. Crockett & Carson talk to a witness named Ferrugi who originally testified about Mosca, then changes his testimony after hearing about the DePalma killing, then they bring in a muscleman to intimidate another witness, switching evidence and planting a firecracker in an envelope disrupting the proceedings. Then Mosca's men bring in an ex-officer named Crimmer who tells that it was Rivers who snitched, but will take care of it. Crockett testifies about Mosca's dealings, then is compelled by the judge to reveal his informant and when he refuses, Crockett is held in contempt and put in jail. Tubbs sees Terry, who said a couple of guys showed up looking for his father, but he left. Tubbs gets a call from Trudy that Rivers was picked up by Metro-Dade for possession, though he has no history of drugs, and he asks Trudy to get word to Carson and the judge to get him sprung as this is obviously a Mosca setup. Rivers is taken to jail where Crockett is located, where Crockett speaks to another inmate who tells him about the plan to finish off Rivers in jail. Tubbs & Carson get the judge to sign a release form, and speed over to pick Rivers up, but before he gets there he is stabbed to death by the prison guard while Crockett hears his screams, powerless to help his friend. Crockett (now out of jail) talks to Terry about his father's death, but Terry asks him where he was for his father, if he was his friend, and gives Crockett Mosca's personal diaries, bank account records. The guard and the con involved in Rivers' death have been indicted, and the information is admitted into evidence. Just then, the bailiff hands her a note and the jury is excused. Juror #7 (the one that was caricatured earlier) has received substantial money to influence his vote, and where that money is located. They find a case full of money exactly where the note says, and the juror denies knowing about it. The judge declares a mistrial based on this, though he knows exactly where the money came from (but cannot be proven), and releases Mosca on bail. Then Terry shows up with a gun intent on killing Mosca for having his father killed, but Crockett talks him out of it. Cast *Don Johnson as Metro-Dade Detective James "Sonny" Crockett *Philip Michael Thomas as Metro-Dade Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs *Saundra Santiago as Metro-Dade Detective Gina Calabrese *Michael Talbott as Metro-Dade Detective Stan Switek *Olivia Brown as Metro-Dade Detective Trudy Joplin *Edward James Olmos as Metro-Dade Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo Guest Stars *Meg Foster as United States Attorney Alice Carson *Mark Blum as Sid Shenker *Steven Keats as Jack Rivers *Phillip Baker Hall as Federal Judge Delaporte *Richard Panebianco as Terry Rivers *Stanley Tucci as Frank Mosca Co-Starring *William Fuller as Crawford *Ted Kowal as Juror #9 *David Mandel as Ray Bans *Julie Ann Sipos as Reporter *Duke Vincent as Louis Brisco Changes While the switch in style at the beginning of the fourth season is nowhere near as severe as that at the start of the Season 3, the show nonetheless undergoes several changes, mostly to attempt to recapture the feel of Seasons 1 and 2. They include: * Crockett's longer, shaggier hairdo is reintroduced. Tubbs, on the other hand, grows a beard. * The pastel colors are also largely reintroduced, although some of the darker styles of season three still appear regularly. * The dark storylines are toned down, with many episodes more akin to the light-hearted stories found in the earlier seasons and some even veering wildly into comedy and science fiction, a fact that is routinely stated to be to the show's detriment. However, the occasional dark episode still appears, their impact made even more noticeable by the light tone at many other points. The result is a decidedly uneven season. Notes *Stanley Tucci and Meg Foster will reprise their roles later in "Blood And Roses". *This is the second time Crockett is thrown in jail for not revealing his informant's identity, the first was in Season 1's "Give A Little, Take A Little". *The RICO statute referred to is called the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which grants extended penalties for crimes committed by organized crime. Music *"Call It Love" by Yello (Rivers taken to jail) Quotes *"Make an appointment the next time you drop in!" -- Mosca to Crockett after bail hearing *"Go ahead, Mosca, make it easy!" -- Crockett to Mosca when his goons prepare to pull their guns Category:Miami Vice Season 4 Episodes